Musings on Liberty tana lawn and hard decisions

So the Jubilee is almost upon us. Are you excited? Judging from the royal wedding last year, it will be naive for me to assume that only those resident on this side of the ocean are working themselves into a frenzy. I bet every conversation now starts with " So, anything planned for the jubilee weekend?". I know because not only have I been the recipient of that question, I have also been at the questioning end of said question.

Anyways, like last time, I plan on spending the weekend sewing. To prepare for that, I went to Goldhawk road on Tuesday. I'm sure you all know by now that I love a good bargain. I am so cheap, I think if you look hard enough in the dictionary, you will find my name there as a synonym. 

I went to Goldhawk road with a plan. To buy liberty tana lawn to make the Wiksten tank top, and rummage through 1 or 2 remnant bins. I fell in love with the pattern after seeing Shivani's versions. So true to plan, I bought a metre each in these liberty prints for £10/metre. So £20 in total, for what will give me 2 tops.

Then I went to the shop that has my favourite remnant bin on Goldhawk road, and bought these

Swiss Voiles

Italian cottons

Now before you all file me into the nut bin, I did not just spend my non-existent life savings on these. These were from the remnant bin, and as such, were £.50/ piece. Some of the pieces were more than a metre, and I had to rant and rave when I was told that the bigger pieces cost more. I spent a great deal of my time there trying to charm my way into a better deal for myself. In the end, I paid £20 for all of them, and was given an extra piece for "the baby". I intend to carry Noah on all my fabric buying trips henceforth. 

Comparing the two, I begin to ask myself what the fuss is about Liberty prints. Sure, they are soft and all that, but do I want 2 soft tops, as opposed to 25 tops, for the same price? Believe me when I say the italian cottons are very soft too. I even bought a couple off the roll for other projects, and I don't think I need to tell you about Swiss cotton voile. 

Do you prefer quantity over quality? Quality here being relative, as I think the Italian cottons and voiles are quality fabrics too. Normally, they sell the Italian cotton in this shop at £10/metre, so we are not talking Primark grade here. I think I shall leave the Liberty prints for special projects, or those requiring  less fabric. Apparently the Wiksten tank top can be made with a metre of fabric. 

The pieces from the remnant bin will be used to make summer tops, and since not all of them are more than a metre, I am thinking tops that require little yardage. Tops like the Sorbetto. I know it will be ok because I took out my sorbetto pattern and did some pattern placement on all of them to see the ones that could be made into tops, and those that might be used in combination with other fabric as ascents.  I'm glad to say only one piece was not big enough for a top. So there you are. Potentially 25 tops for £20. I fear there shall be tsunami of sorbetto tops round these parts in the coming weeks.

Now, on to the second part of my post, which concerns the Cambie dress.

I want to make a cambie so badly. I have the pattern already, I have the lining already ( I decided on a white cotton lining), but now, I don't know what fabric to use. I originally intended to make it using a white eyelet fabric I had in my stash, but after my trip to goldhawk road, I became confused. Upon arriving at home, I decided to sort my stash so I could know what I had there, lo and behold, I saw more fabric with could be Cambies. aarrgggh!!!!!

So I need your help . Which would you use for a Cambie from the following lot?

Italian cotton

Linen

Cotton eyelet

Cotton sateen

Cotton Pique ( Jane made a lovely dress with this one)

decisions decisions.......

I need a stiff drink please!!